City Schools of Decatur Ranks #5 Among Atlanta’s Top Workplaces
Decatur Metro | April 28, 2013
This morning, the AJC published lists of the Top 20 Large (500+ employees), Top 30 Midsize (150-499 employees) and Top 50 Small (149 employees or smaller) workplaces in the Atlanta metro area. Lo and behold, at #5 is the City Schools of Decatur. (That’s in the physical newspaper. The website for some reason has a different #5.) Here’s the blurb…
The independent public schools district services 3,500 students among eight campuses. The system added 40 employees last year, growing to 583, and projects 40 more hires this year. It’s Early Childhood Learning Center received widespread publicity with a visit from President Barack Obama in February. The district ranks high in standardized testing and Advanced Placement categories. Teachers average 13 years of experience, and more than 70 percent hold advanced degrees. The school board pays for contracted personnel membership fees in the teachers retirement system. The days of personal leave are granted annually.
You can check out a map of all the top workplaces here. Also, the AJC explains their methodology here.
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You must not have gone to a City School of Decatur. That should be “lo and behold”.
What did I write? Aww crap. Indeed. But I’ve sung “Lo’ How a Rose ‘Er Blooming” enough times where I don’t really have an excuse beyond I’ve never really cared much about spelling!
And then there’s that “It’s.” But I’ll assume you were cutting and pasting there. #piling on
“Lo” is a much underused exclamation. Reminder to self to use it more. “Lo and behold dinner…” , “Lo, it is time to get up for school”, “Lo, behold the CSD Master Plan…”.
I use it all the time in speech and no one knows that I’m spelling it incorrectly in my head.
I do.
Eh, I can live with that.
I love you, man.
You got me to look up lo. I guess I had assumed it was kind of like “yo!” — as it would be pronounced if it were Spanish. But “lo” is an expression of wonder.
On the post: I can’t say I’d want to trade places with the folks in central office these days, but that’s great to hear about CSD.
Some pf the best ever Dylan covers are on this album:
Re “lo’ “: yes, an expression of wonder, shortened from “Look!”, maybe? So “Lo’! It’s time to get up for school” should still work although why that’s a surprise every morning to my children is beyond me.
Re CSD being fifth best large employer: That’s great news. IMHO, nothing makes a bigger difference in the classroom than a psyched, motivated, caring well-trained, skilled teacher. Supporting and rewarding excellent teachers is the best way to help students, no matter what the curriculum, no matter who the students are. Even factors like class size, resources, testing, important as they are, are mediated through the teacher, either helping and encouraging them, or impeding and discouraging them.
I read recently in a NYT article about “big data” being used to evaluate worker behaviors and other HR-related stuff, that a better predictor of a person’s current/future performance isn’t their past experience/performance (which you’d find on a resume), but the quality of their manager. Bet the same applies to teachers/students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/technology/big-data-trying-to-build-better-workers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Agree 100% that teachers make a HUGE difference in student performance. That’s why you often see the strongest teachers put at the 3rd grade and 5th grade levels where a CRCT pass is a must if the school wants to send a student up to the next school. (Which unfortunately leads to 3rd grade teacher burn out if too many students were let slide through K-2 without adequate support or remediation.) IMHO, students worship the teacher that cares and works hard for them. They’ll stretch themselves to the max for that teacher.
Given CSD’s draw for excellent teachers, it needs to be sure and deal with those very, very,very few that just cannot cut it or cannot cut it anymore. While they are a tiny few, real students are losing a whole year in their classrooms or courses. I’m not talking about the gray areas–style or personality issues or those who suit some students better than others–I’m talking about the ones who even other teachers make sure their children don’t get. There are some excellent teachers who could be hired in their place given CSD’s reputation.
AHID: yep. Not a scientific survey or anything, but my strong sense from attending things like the Oakhurst Elementary community circles and auction events, plus just chatting with people, is that the teachers and staff are by and large genuinely enthusiastic about working here. It’s nice to see, and I agree that it make a big difference.